The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-08-18
TE'A6HERs'GoLUMN
j. q. gLINKsCALEs, EDITOR.
DEAN sTANLEY's B0YHo0D.

wouted light, ana MS Ilttie Iranne olialeu
into something like boyish dignity.
These we're expressions Of his ancestral
pride. He had learned that, more than
three centuries before, Lord Stanley and
his brother, sir William Stanley, had
brayely fought against King Richard
III, at Bosworth, and had BY their timely
support given the victory to the Earl Of
Richmond, afterward Henry VII. He
knew that Sir William Stanley, having
found "crown of ornament" among the
spoils of the dead Richard, had borne it
into tie presence of the victorious Rich
mond Just as his soldiers were shouting,
Long live Henry the Seventh !" Step
ping up to the triumphant warrior, he
placed the crown on his head, saying, as
Shakespeare had written it:
Courageous Richmond! well hast thou acquis
thee:
Lo, Here, this long usurped loyalty
From the dead temples of that bloody wretch
Have plucked off to grace thy brows withal ;
Wear it, enjoy it, and make much Of it."
Knowing these and kindred facts, Ar
thur Stanley's heart leaped when remind
ed uhaf the blood of those oldsheroes
flowed through his veins. Yet he had
:he good sense not to, think himself better
on that account, but only that, having
noble name, he must not smirch 1T by
doing ignobIe deeds. .
Perhaps his historic name led Arthur
to become, while yet a small boy, q lover
Of historic reading. Possibly it was his
wise, gentle and loving 6 mother who
awakened that love in his active mind
But,twhatever led to it, he delighted not
Id mefai istory books, but in histories.
Hence, ,awhen only about nine years of
age he took a prize book for history !!
And what is perhaps still more remarka-
bic sforsone of his tender age, he read with
esger delight Southey 3 MaaOc and Taa-
za6atts Destroyer descriptive epic
poems, the first filled with exploits of a
Welsh hero, the second an Arabian.
fiction in which its hero fights with ma
g;cians, monsters, and other evil powers
until ne oYercomes them. If instead of
these poems, filed with brilliant descrip-
tions and tales of heroic conduct, he had
read such foolish books as are now called
adime novels instead of becoming
man distinguished for good deeds and
exalted character, he would most likely
have lived most useless life, and died
at last to fill an unhonored grave.
There was only one thing in this bril-.
liant boy that troubled his noble mother.
He did not love boyish sports. He
wanted boyish. companions, but did not
get them because he did not find pleasure
In cricket, base ball, foot ball, or any
otherIybuthful. games. Reading Was the
only pleasure he cared for. His wise
mother very properly wished that he
would be more like other boys, thinking
it would be better for him, and she ex.
claimed one day:
Sab, it is 80 difficult to manage Ar
thur !" -
Her difficulty vas not in any miscon-
duct ofehis, for he was as free from boyish
faults, perhaps, as any but the one perfect
boy of Nazareth ever was. But she
feared that his self.isolation from boys of
his age would make him unhappy. Yet,
looking again at his brightness, his merry
conversation and quick repartee, she
added: ''..
'sYet, after all, suspect that this is
Arthur's worst time, and that he will be
q happier man than he is boy.".
This good mother was right with re.
spect to his manhood. She was wrong
as to his boyhood. He was happy then,
but not as boys usually are. His life was
not in the playground, but in his books,
and in writing, for before he was eleven
years old he wrote several poems.
When Arthur was about twelve years
old he met lad of fifteen, who, while
conversing with him about books, asked
him:
"Haye you ever read Gray's poems?"
"No," replied Arthur.
"Then," rejoined the other, with en-.
thusiastic earnestness, "do so at once !"
and jhe placed the volnme in Arthur's
hands. :
The book was taken home and read
With such close attention that to the end
of:his life he often quoted from it when.
speaking Of Grecian scenery or of Eng
lands ancient kings.
The lad who recommended Gray to the
boy Arthur was William Gladstone,
whose name to-day is, as Arthu1's also, in
the mouth of the world. How much the
high character of their youthful reading
had to do with the greatness of these two
men, let the reader guess if he can.
When fourteen years old Arthur Stan.
ley found himself at Rugby under the
teaching of that prince of school.masters,
DIR. Arnold. He took his love for read
ing and his distaste for boyish sports with
him. Hence the idlers who loved sport
and hated study despised him, as being
what is called in college slang "grind."
Their scorn was expressed one afternoon
when Stanley was sitting at his desk
after school hours, reading with the
"keenness of hound" DR.. Mitford's
History Of Greece. One of his school.
mates, seeing him, hurled stone at him
through the window. The missile struck
the student in the forehead, where it left
an almost indelible scar.
Was Arthur happy at Rugby? Per.
haps not at first. DR.. Arnold, whom he
y g. Il -